What do you want to know?

I've recently had a lot of people ask where I got my wraps, my diapers, how I get my kids to sleep, etc... and since I do have mommy brain x5, I usually forget exactly where I found certain things in the heat of the moment. So, I'm thinking of doing a series of blog posts with links to my favorite sites & the best books on different subjects... then when people ask me, I can just refer them to my blog and they can find whatever they need. :)

So... what do you want to know? Which of my secrets should I spill? As usual, my mommy-brain has taken over this morning, and I can't even think of where to get started. :)

Experimenting in the Kitchen

I admit it... I was NOT a great cook when I got married. Dave and I spent the first year or so of our marriage eating pasta & frozen pizzas (okay, so we still do that sometimes). I will also claim that the reason for my lack of culinary skills was my laziness to wash the resulting dishes without a dishwasher. When we moved out of our first apartment and finally got a dishwasher I got better at preparing meals (slightly).

My biggest challenge in cooking is that I was never really taught how to prepare great home-cooked meals. I grew up eating corn dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches & hamburger helper. If it comes from a box, I can make it.

Thankfully, after living with Dave for several years, I slowly learned to be more creative in the kitchen and to start putting things together because "they sounded good." I was recently successful in making a stew from leftover roast, when I have never done this before. I've also made split pea soup & chicken pot pies from scratch, without a recipe even though I'd never made them before.

Unfortunately, not all of my creations are so successful, or even edible. Dave has been quite understanding when my "masterpieces" are lacking, and has choked down at least a few bites of everything I have made... even last night...

The dinner conversation last night went something like this:

Dave: so what are we having for dinner?

Me: chicken, with rice & veggies.

Dave: it looks like the chicken is covered in applesauce...

Me: yes, it does look like that.

Dave: so, what is the sauce?

Me: corn chex (super-soggy-corn-chex)

Dave: would this meal go well with soy sauce?

Thankfully, the soggy corn-chex "sauce" wasn't actually too bad, and the girls scarfed down the chicken without touching the rice or veggies. Dave had two heaping plates full of everything... with a generous helping of soy sauce & stir-fry sauce. :)

*Mental note: next time bake the shake-n-bake chicken separate from the rice & veggies, then the steam won't turn the "shake" into mush.

WOW!!

As a family, we've been trying to eat healthier for many years now... I think that's always a part of everyone's New Year's Resolutions, in some form. For us, we've noticed that we really do feel better when we eat out less, and when we consume less junk food. But, like most people, it's really hard to make a ton of changes all at once, so we've been slowly working to improve our eating habits. Our first goals were to avoid MSG and High-fructose-corn-syrup as much as possible. Now it's pretty much a given that our favorite "fast-food" binge is Panda Express with a side of Jamba Juice (YUM!!).

After limiting these two items for a while, Dave and I decided to eat out at PF Chang's, since we'd never been there before and we had babysitters. I had heard there was a lot of MSG in their food, but didn't really think about it... until that evening. Dave and I both left the restaurant feeling pretty gross and swore we'd never go back, and we'd avoid MSG-filled restaurants in the future. Several months later, I started wondering if that was just a fluke, probably in response to my pregnancy cravings for the new Wendy's Bacon-ator. I figured we'd never know for sure.

So, this past week was a bit crazy. Nothing really out of the ordinary, except that my baby sister and her husband flew in from Ohio for a funeral. On Friday, after a burial service, everyone who was at the graveside went to lunch at Chuck-O-Rama. Since it was a family event, and the chosen restaurant was a favorite of the deceased, we went with it. The bill was super low, which was nice for our family, and I made sure that our kids each had a good salad before filling up on bread, rice krispies treats and brownies. I tried my best to avoid the meats (especially the breaded ones) and other things I figured would be filled with MSG. I did allow myself a small slushee which was basically pure High-fructose-corn-syrup, lightly chilled, and each of the girls got a small one too.

A couple of hours later we were in the car on our way home (we stopped to visit Lindsay's Puppies before driving home). Pretty much as soon as we got in the car I started feeling HORRIBLE. I just felt nauseous, slightly car-sick even though Dave wasn't driving crazily, and I wasn't reading, and really light-headed & achy. I got progressively worse as we got home and by the time we walked in our front door I seriously wanted to puke... but thankfully didn't. In the mean time, our kids were getting more and more hyper, and more and more sensitive to everything. As we began to get everyone ready for bed we were met by the wails of ALL 5 KIDS!!*

*As a side-note, this has never happened before... we've had 2 or 3 crying at the same time, and every now and then 4 are crying simultaneously... but NEVER all 5 at the same time... and NEVER that type of crying.

Dave and I have now officially sworn off Chuck-O-Rama, as well as anything with MSG or High-fructose-corn-syrup... if anyone knows of a great tasting MSG-free Ranch Dressing, I would love to know about it. Thankfully, I felt much better after a good night's rest, but I don't ever want to feel that way again.

Rule Number 2

Once upon a time, my husband wanted to be an astronomer. Then a BYU physics class convinced him that he'd have to make a choice between his brain and his dreams of the stars... he chose to keep the brain, for which I am eternally grateful (not that I don't think he'd make a great astronomer... it'd just be much harder to hold a conversation with a vegetable).

Because of this astronomy dream, in high school Dave spent a week at Space Camp in Florida. While he was there, he did some group activities in their giant 3 story dive-tank (because it somewhat simulates the working conditions in space). While learning how to use the dive suits & scuba gear, his instructor taught 2 basic rules to live by while underwater (there may have been more, but Dave has only told me about two of them).

Rule Number 1: Never stop breathing.

Rule Number 2: If it hurts, don't do it.

Now we find ourselves constantly looking at each other and declaring "rule number 2" whenever our children do something dumb or just silly and end up hurting themselves. Stubbed toes are common here, as are bruised heads and shoulders from running (literally) into door frames, as well as pinched fingers from sticking said fingers into the hinges of all things hinged. D also has a special knack for tripping on the carpet and bonking her head on her elbow on the way down. (And yes, Dave and I occasionally also do stupid things that cause bodily injury.)

But the inspiration for this post didn't come from my sometimes klutzy girls. It came from the little creatures in my house who until recently were considered "lumps" by a well-loved Aunt. The little creatures who just barely learned to roll over... at least part way.

I had hoped that my life would be easier once the boys figured out how to roll, especially rolling from back to front, because that's supposedly harder. I assumed that once they were freely able to roll, they would be content on the floor for longer periods, and begin happily watching their sisters play around them, while I sewed to my hearts content.

I was sadly mistaken.

Instead of the happy bliss I was hoping for, I now have two 4 month olds who for some reason can ONLY roll back to front, who get super mad at being on their stomach, and who insist on rolling to their stomach within the first 30 seconds of being put on the floor.

Allow me to demonstrate:

I'm sorry boys... but if you don't like being on your stomachs, stop rolling... otherwise, MAN UP and figure out how to roll back to your back, or learn to like your stomach.

It's official

With my January resolution not to visit forums, I've spent my limited internet time catching up on blogs of friends and family and I've come to realize a couple of things.

1. I know a lot of people who don't have kids, most of whom are family (all of my siblings, many of my cousins, etc.)

2. I definitely have kids, and it shows in my blog.

I've spent a lot of time reading blog posts about fun vacations, the cool couple costumes at Halloween parties, birthdays spent at fancy restaurants with friends and complete with expensive jewelry, buying new houses, endless photos of puppies (which are totally adorable), and new jobs.

After reading all those posts about the awesome things everyone else is doing, I find some of my own posts rather lame by comparison... I mean, I did get an iPod for Christmas (which has been totally awesome, thanks again Dave!!!), but I was also super excited about bunk beds for the girls and the new bench for our kitchen table so that we can all sit together while we eat dinner. I then spent a few sentences complaining about some of the finer aspects of parenting. After the potty post, I posted several pictures showing off my kids, and getting excited about them sleeping...

and now, what am I excited about?... that's right... a freezer.

We've realized for the past few months that we have been having a really hard time fitting all of our frozen goods into our freezer. Yes, we did just discover that we all LOVE Popsicles, and I like to have ice cream and grape juice around for purple cows, and we found a great, inexpensive frozen pizza that we all love... and maybe we shouldn't be buying so much of that stuff... but I've also been trying to make very large quantities of meals and freezing some for later. I've made frozen lasagna, split pea soup, chili, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, chicken pot pie and chocolate chip cookie dough which have all frozen really well. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make them all at the same time... instead, I have to make one every other week or so and wait until we've cleaned out the freezer before making more. We also haven't had the chance to stock up on things on sale, like butter and frozen veggies, and we haven't had room for frozen fruits for smoothies.

Anyway, after realizing all of this, I decided I wanted a chest freezer... something extra to hold more frozen stuff. When my parents gave us an awesome Visa gift card for Christmas, I decided I was going to use the money to go towards a chest freezer... so I started shopping. Unfortunately, chest freezers are EXPENSIVE!! I thought maybe if I found one on sale I could get a little tiny one... one only slightly larger than the cooler we take to the park. I wasn't sure that would be worth it, since I needed more space than that, and still didn't want do spend so much...

enter craigslist.com :)

On Thursday, I found exactly 1 listing for a chest freezer for sale in Provo. After contacting the seller and negotiating a price, he delivered my new freezer Friday evening!

It's totally massive, but was an awesome price.

It's definitely ancient, but it's also Sear's brand, so it should last forever. (And yes, K is STANDING in the freezer)
I'm very happy with craigslist tonight. :)
Now I can't wait to shop and cook to fill it up!!

... so, it's official... I'm a stay-at-home-mom and a suburban-housewife.

4 going on 15

So, apparently I've already moved right into the "mom is lame" stage.

Since the lava monster thing worked so well, I thought I'd get creative again and try to use the girls' imagination to help me get some housework done... I suggested that we "feed" their dresser with clean folded clothes.

Instead of a chorus of "okay mom, that sounds really fun!" that I was hoping to hear... I got a mini-meltdown from K insisting that the dresser drawers were not mouths at all, but were in fact, simply dresser drawers. And the Academy Award for Best Drama goes to...

Thankfully, I already had an extra tool at my disposal... since for some reason, though the dresser does not have a mouth, lava monsters still exist. I sent all three of the girls to their beds (because they were all going crazy), "turned on" the lava, and left the room to fold some laundry. Thankfully, one of my boys was sleeping, and the other was content to let me fold towels as long as he was strapped to me in the wrap. After the towels were folded and J2 had had enough of the wrap, I changed his diaper and nursed him to sleep... that's when I noticed that the lava monsters had put C and D to sleep as well. :D (Though, the lava monsters didn't keep C in her bed... she fell asleep on mine... but close enough.)

Allow me to share the JOY that is 4 sleeping little ones:

I apologize for the darkness in the girls' room... but there was no way I was turning on a light for this.

As one final thought... why is it that the kids can be super creative, but I can't be? While they didn't allow me to turn their dresser into a hungry-for-clean-clothes creature, a few days ago they decided to turn the lava into popcorn and eat their way out of their bedroom... I explained that wasn't possible, and thankfully, they haven't done it since.

Merry Christmas (okay, so I'm a little late...)

So, for Christmas for the grandparents we made a scrapbook of 2009 and had it published... for the rest of you, you can see our creation here.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the New Year

So, last year was full of surprises and a little crazy... this year will, hopefully, be much less stressful... of course, we have no idea where we will be by December, but we can figure that out later. :) There are several things that have happened in the past few weeks that I would like to discuss... I could make these several different blog posts... but I'm just going to join them all together.

Item 1 - New Year's Resolutions

I decided to make a few New Year's Resolutions, but I'm not planning to keep these all year. I figure that it only takes 21 days to make a habit, so if I work on one thing each month, I should have 12 new habits by the end of the year. For the month of January my "theme" is "Good, Better, Best." I'm going to focus on keeping my priorities straight and specifically, spending more time with my kids. So, for the month of January, I will not be visiting or reading any forums. I have found that they simply take too much of my time and I have more important things to focus on. I may try to get back to some forums in February, if time allows.

Item 2 - Lava Monsters

I've decided that the older girls need to have some "quiet time" in the afternoon, while the younger ones are napping... both for their own good, and for my own sanity. The only problem is that I have had a hard time enforcing this quiet time and keeping the girls one their own beds while I put little ones to sleep. This week I had a brilliant idea.

*now, some of my friends will argue that this idea is totally horrific and that I'm damaging my children forever... but I say, it works and they think it's a game...

My girls have wonderful imaginations and LOVE to play pretend. Often the carpet in my bedroom (because it's blue) is turned into a lake, and various blankets are the boats that allow them to get through the lake, and pillows are often stepping stones. So, I took their ideas and tweaked them slightly. I told them that the carpet in their room was lava. But it was a special lava... mommy can turn it on and off (the switch is on top of the door where only mommy can reach it). Mommy also has special mommy shoes so that she can walk on the lava. But if little girls try to walk on the lava, they will get burned. Furthermore... there are monsters that live in the lava and they are looking for little children... they can't see anything, but they can hear really well.

So, while the lava is "on" the girls have to stay on their beds and be very quiet. Don't judge me, because it works... (this method also works well for time outs)

Item 3 - Reading Material

This section just includes some fun pictures and a video of my girls recently.

And Finally

Item 4 - Mobility

You may have noticed in the previous video that J1 was on his tummy... but you may not have realized that he got there by himself. Here's a video from Monday night that proves he can do it. :)

*Note - this is my first attempt at uploading video... so I hope it works. These videos were taken with my new iPod nano (YAY!!).

The Joys of Children *with much sarcasm*

So, I find it fitting that this post comes immediately after a post about all the wonderful things that happened not too long ago. Here we go with the bad news...

After months of clean sheets every morning, we got a very smelly, wet, disgusting wake up call this morning...

K chose to wet the "bed" last night... after insisting on sleeping on the couch (which of course doesn't have protective plastic)...

D chose to wet the bed last night *after* she chose to climb into our bed (which thankfully does have protective plastic)...

And BOTH boys had major poop blowouts & leaked all over, *after* they kicked out of their swaddling blankets, and *while* wearing disposables!!!

And of course... today is not my laundry day (we share laundry facilities with our landlords... and I get Tues/Thurs/Sat)...

C was in a cloth diaper and was the only one who didn't leak all over.

Whoever would like to claim that disposable diapers are more absorbent than cloth diapers can come do my laundry...